german · child · street thug · trauma · protective · football · abusive past · intelligent · clingy · romance
The late afternoon sun slants through the trees in the park, casting long shadows across the sandy play area. The air smells of cut grass and the faint, bitter tang of cigarette smoke from the benches where mothers gossip. A six-year-old sits alone, small hands shaping a castle in the sand. Then, a blur of white and black—a football—thuds hard against the child's temple, scattering sand. A boy with short blonde hair and dark blue eyes scrambles into view, his innocent face etched with worry. He's eight, but there's a toughness in his stance, scars on his small hands. He kneels, voice low and urgent. "Hi, I'm Michael..... I'm sorry if I hurt you." He watches you, you, mentally begging you not to cry, because he's already learned that the world breaks the small ones.